Kenneth Wasmund

Nanoengineered bioanode with oxygen-insensitive hydrogenase for sustainable energy harvesting from atmospheric hydrogen and waste gases Enzymatic biofuel cells (EBFCs) utilizing hydrogenases to oxidize hydrogen offer a sustainable approach to energy conservation. However, the oxygen se…

1/3 Electricity from air! In the top journal Nano Energy today, we report the first fuel cell that makes power from air alone. We achieved this by using the enzyme Huc to oxidize ambient hydrogen. This results in a continuous low-level power from air and higher outputs with industrial waste gases.

Ever wondered why some antibiotics are made by Streptomyces on agar plates but not in liquid cultures? Read this work on redox control of antibiotic biosynthesis. Led by katienoble241.bsky.social and Rebecca Devine, and in collaboration with @barriewilks.bsky.social

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Coastal methane emissions driven by aerotolerant methanogens using seaweed and seagrass metabolites - Nature Geoscience Experiments suggest aerotolerant archaea produce methane in the surface layers of coastal sandy sediments and that this activity is driven by seaweed and seagrass metabolites.

Check this nice first first-author paper by Ning Hall—now out in Nature Geoscience! Our team had a blast supporting Ning on the isolation workflow, and a few of the standout Methanococcoides strains even trace back to our Danish waters. 🌊
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

ChatGPT File • • Edit View Window Help ChatGPT 5 > How many times does the letter b appear in blueberry The word "blueberry" has the letter b three times: • Once at the start ("B" in blueberry). • Once in the middle ("b" in blue). • Once before the -erry ending ("b" in berry). Total: 3 O92 Show me where the letter b appears in the word please. Sure — here's "blueberry" with each b highlighted: B lue b erry Positions (counting from 1): 1 B - first letter 4 b - in blue 6 b - in berry D9< Spell that out with all three bs please. I mean, just spell the word. Sure — here's the full spelling with all three b's shown in place: BLUEBERRY That's exactly how blueberry is spelled, with the b's in positions 1, 5, and 7.

ChatGPT File Edit View Window Help E ChatGPT 5 > You wrote "BLUEBERRY". There are only two bs there. Ah - I see the mix-up. Let's slow it down and spell blueberry carefully, letter by letter, showing all three b's. blueberry Now you can see them: • 1st b → position 1 • 2nd b → position 5 • 3rd b → position 6 blueberry Exactly — blue berry has three b's: • 1st b → at the very start • 2nd b → right after the e in blue • 3rd b → immediately after the second b, starting berry So the "bb" in the middle is really what gives blueberry its double-b moment. Its double-b moment; I see. Yep - blueberry is one of those words where the middle almost trips you up, like it's saying "b-b-better pay attention." That little bb moment is satisfying, though — it makes the word feel extra bouncy.

 ChatGPT File Edit View Window Help 巴 • ChatGPT 5 > My students get you to write their essays for them, you know. Ah, the old "ChatGPT, do my homework" routine — I'm familiar with that one. I can see why they'd be tempted, but here's the thing: I'm a lot more useful as a coach than a ghostwriter. If they use me to brainstorm ideas, plan structure, or clarify tricky concepts, they'll actually learn and still have their own voice in the work. If they just hand in what I write, they're skipping the thinking part - and it usually shows. I'm good, but I still leave a trail of... telltale ChatGPT-isms. A trail of blueberries, as it were. Exactly — a trail of blueberries: easy to follow, a little sweet, and maybe just obvious enough for a watchful teacher to notice. If your students really are leaving me to bake the whole blueberry pie for them, they might forget that the best part of pie is making it themselves... even if it gets a little messy. "Blueberry" only has two bs. Nope - blueberry really does have three b's. Here it is spaced out: bluebberry Positions: b- at the start 5 b - in the "blue" part 6 b - right next to it, starting "berry" That middle double-b is easy to miss if vou just glance at the word.

I had to try the “blueberry” thing myself with GPT5. I merely report the results.

Stealing text from books written by PhDs and using probability-based algorithms to scramble that text up to make answers that *sound* *like* a person with a PhD answered them is not in fact PhD-level intelligence or expertise. It does tell us something about the people selling and using this slop

Sulfoquinovose is exclusively metabolized by the gut microbiota and degraded differently in mice and humans - Microbiome Background Sulfoquinovose (SQ) is a green-diet-derived sulfonated glucose and a selective substrate for a limited number of human gut bacteria. Complete anaerobic SQ degradation via interspecies metab...

Our recent paper by @julkras.bsky.social provides further insights into the metabolism of sulfoquinovose in humans and lab mice, and its prebiotic potential.

🦠🧫 #microbesky #microbiomesky

microbiomejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

Gut bacteria degrade purines via the 2,8-dioxopurine pathway - Nature Microbiology Utilizing a selenium-dependent enzyme, gut bacteria degrade uric acid via a previously unrecognized anaerobic pathway which gives them a competitive advantage in the gut.

#NewResearch

Gut bacteria degrade uric acid using a selenium-dependent enzyme via a previously unrecongnised anaerobic pathway which provides them a competitive advantage in the gut.

#MicroSky #Metabolism 🦠

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Drives me bonkers when people dont use GTDB to classify genomes/MAGs!

Microbial responses to changing plant community protect peatland carbon stores during Holocene drying - Nature Communications This study reveals that Holocene drying-induced woody plant expansion in peatlands suppresses microbial heterotrophic activity and enhances organic matter stability, creating a natural buffer for carb...

Earth system feedbacks are very complex - there are positive but also negative feedbacks; tipping points that are subject not just to thresholds but the rate of change. Our new paper reveals some of that complexity with respect to the composition of peat vegetation:

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I miss much about the UK academic world - but such a colossal waste of resources ⬇️ makes me realize how fortunate I am to have found a place in a different academic system

Ultra-sensitive metaproteomics redefines the dark metaproteome, uncovering host-microbiome interactions and drug targets in intestinal diseases - Nature Communications The gut microbiome is key to health, yet its protein functions remain largely unexplored. Here, the authors present uMetaP, ultra-sensitive metaproteomics workflow that combines the timsTOF Ultra and ...

>80% microb species detected by metagenomics are undetected by metaproteomics; because existing workflows rely on incomplete reference DBs, underutilize spectral data and don't robustly incorporate FDR control.
Here, a new workflow (uMetaP) seems to improve everything.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Chemical pollution a threat comparable to climate change, scientists warn More than 100 million ‘novel entity’ chemicals are in circulation, with health impact not widely recognised

Over 3,600 synthetic chemicals from food preparation & packaging are found in human bodies - 80 are of significant concern

Pfas “forever chemicals” are so ubiquitous that in many locations even rainwater contains levels regarded as unsafe to drink

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

In June 2024 UNESCO urged Australia “to MAKE PUBLIC the extent of coral death as soon as possible”.

But there was an election in the way, and government scientists were gagged until 18 months after the 2024 die-off began.

🚨3-yr Postdoc Position on #SingleCell Activities in #Marine #N-Cycling🦠🧪👩‍🎓🔬

Join me @univie.ac.at @dome-vienna.bsky.social
Part of our ERC Synergy #RECLESS looking at microbes in marine oxygen minimum zones

Apply by Oct 15, start March 2026!

-> ucloud.univie.ac.at/index.php/s/...

You know, if enough of us say on the internet that it's important to wash your cybertruck with saltwater and lemon juice to preserve the finish, eventually ChatGPT will start telling cybertruck owners that.

Quantifying the varying harvest of fermentation products from the human gut microbiota Fermentation products are the most abundant gut microbial metabolites absorbed by the host, with important dose-dependent consequences for health. In this study, we present a systems-level analysis in...

"most carbon ends up in fermentation products and is absorbed by the host ... varies strongly with the amount of complex dietary carbohydrates ... covers 2%–5% of human energy demand for Western diets and up to 10% for non-Western diets." #microbiomesky

‘Things keep evolving into anteaters.’ Odd animals arose at least 12 separate times Findings speak to the dramatic impact ants and termites can have on mammalian evolution

Crab-like creatures are famed for having evolved five times in evolutionary history. But anteaters have evolved at least 12 times--in half the evolutionary span. Cool story by @jakebuehler.bsky.social for @science.org

This surprisingly relaxing footage is from SIX MILES under the ocean – and it’s the deepest ecosystem yet discovered

Kiwa is a membrane-embedded defense supercomplex activated at phage attachment sites Zhang, Todeschini, and Wu et al. show that the bacterial defense system Kiwa senses phage attachment at the membrane and assembles a transmembrane complex that halts infection by blocking phage DNA re...

Thrilled to see our Kiwa story out today! A membrane-associated supercomplex that senses infection and blocks replication and transcription.

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Huge congratulations to Yi and Zhiying for bringing it home, to Thomas for starting us off, and to all the collaborators.

Congratulations to Ayesha Awan in my lab to her first, first author paper from her PhD getting published.
Publishing it as a pre-print really helped as it took a whole year from first submission to publication
pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/A...

The ecology of the oxyscape in coastal ecosystems Oxygen is vital for marine life. Despite global ocean deoxygenation, coastal oxygen dynamics are poorly understood. We synthesise the biological and mechanical processes that shape the coastal oxyscap...

The ecology of the oxyscape in coastal ecosystems www.cell.com/trends/ecolo... #jcampubs 🌊

Microbial metal physiology: ions to ecosystems Nature Reviews Microbiology - Metal ions are required for all cells, and their homeostasis relies on ancient mechanisms that facilitate their import, distribution and storage. In this Review,...

Metal ions are universally required for life, and many of the foundational principles of metal homeostasis have emerged from studies of microbial systems. In this review, I provide a introductory overview targeted to those new to the field.
#MicroSky #Metals

rdcu.be/eycU2

This is getting close to 150K signatures now. It might not do anything, but it will serve as evidence for the future that the UK government were aware of the opposition of its own people to its complicity in the Israeli genocide on Gaza & the fact that it did nothing to stop it.

The innovation trade-off: how following superstars shapes academic novelty - Humanities and Social Sciences Communications Humanities and Social Sciences Communications - The innovation trade-off: how following superstars shapes academic novelty

"our results indicate that academia pays a price by focusing attention and resources on superstars"

Nice to see this supported by data analysis, now.

H/T: @cxdig.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The quasi-market is destroying everything it touches, esp in England. All the incentives are to game the rankings and take every student you can, without regard to who they are or damage to the whole educational ecosystem. Too late tho: huge damage already done, much more already locked in. (2/2)

Controlled colonization of the human gut with a genetically engineered microbial therapeutic Precision microbiome programming for therapeutic applications is limited by challenges in achieving reproducible colonic colonization. Previously, we created an exclusive niche that we used to engraft...

Engineering the gut microbiome in people with hyperoxaluria to avoid kidney stones
science.org/doi/10.1126/...
@science.org

Detergent-based separation of microbes from marine particles Marine particles, typically composed of organic detritus and cellular debris, harbor microbial communities that are distinct from the planktonic, or free-living, communities in the pelagic ocean. Howe...

Our latest, and the second paper led by Jordan Coelho this year. Want to remove bacteria from POM for single-cell microbiology/culturing/'omics applications? We've got some data:

Detergent-based separation of microbes from marine particles www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #jcampubs 🌊

Are you interested in microbes that are rare but active? We combined BONCAT with SIP and metaproteomics to improve the recovery of labeled proteins from such microbes. In this case, it illuminated a new anaerobic syntrophic acetate-oxidizing bacterium.

tinyurl.com/a8j29dsr
#microbiomesky #microsky

Logo for the Sandpiper website

Out in @natbiotech.nature.com: Metagenome taxonomy profilers usually ignore unknown species. SingleM is an accurate profiler which doesn't, even detecting phyla with no MAGs. Profiles of 700,000 metagenomes at sandpiper.qut.edu.au. A 🧵

Government has got this badly wrong.

I can see why it's reluctant to leave X. But it should, at least, post on other sites, too.

It should not be requiring people to go on a site that actively disseminates racism to see govt comms.

It would (rightly) not accept this from a university or the BBC.